Potential thermophiles for ethanol production at elevated temperature were compared based on their kinetic performances. T. thermophilus HB27 demonstrated superior kinetics and its growth was not greatly affected when containing the recombinant plasmid pTEV231. Detailed kinetic studies demonstrated that it could utilize glucose and xylose in medium containing 0.5 % (w/v) yeast extract, and could produce low levels of L-lactate, acetate and ethanol. Kinetic evaluation of the newly isolated G. thermoglucosidasius M10EXG showed it could grow on fully defined media and coferment glucose and xylose. G. thermoglucosidasius M10EXG produced higher levels of products (acetate, and L-lactate) at about 2 g/l each, compared to T. thermophilus HB27 although ethanol levels were only 0.1-0.2 g/l in shake flask fermentations under partially aerobic conditions. Improved conditions for natural transformation of T. thermophilus HB27 were determined. Optimal conditions for electroporation of were: Milli-Q water washing of cells rather than with 10% (v/v) glycerol; an electrical field of 5 kV/cm; cell concentration of 1.4x1010 cells/ml; and a DNA concentration of 500 ng in 40 Fl (125 Fg/ml) which achieved a transformation efficiency of 3x103 transformants /Fg DNA. The chloramphenicol resistance (cat) and green fluorescence protein (gfp) genes from pCJS10 were cloned into an E. coli -- T. thermophilus shuttle vector (pMK18) as possible selection markers at elevated temperatures. Both genes were expressed in E. coli DH5H and it was demonstrated that gfp expression in E. coli DH5H decreased as temperature increased to 45oC. However following transformation of T. thermophilus HB27, no evidence of expression were found. The pet operon containing adhT (with its promoter) from G.thermoglucosidasius M10EXG and pdc from Z. mobilis Zm4, was cloned into pMK18 and low level expression in E. coli JM109 occurred with some increase in ethanol production. However the pet operon was not expressed in T. thermophilus with pMK18. For further gene expression studies, a new shuttle vector, pPOPTE (4-5 kb), based on the T. thermophilus plasmid pTEV231 (containing thermostable kanamycin resistance gene) was constructed. pPOPTE was capable of multiplying in both E. coli and T. thermophilus HB27 and demonstrated higher stability and transformation efficiency compared to pMK18.

<p>Alkohol har sedan länge varit starkt förknippat med sjöfarten. Detta fick oss intresserade och vi valde att fördjupa oss i ämnet. I vårt examensarbete har vi valt att fokusera på huruvida rederiernas alkoholpolicy efterföljs ombord på fartygen.</p><p>För att få en uppfattning så använde vi oss av metodtriangulering. Vi utförde en enkätundersökning bland skolans nautiska elever angående den rådande alkoholkulturen till sjöss, därefter intervjuades de tre rederier som nämnts mest i enkätundersökningen för att få deras kommentarer på resultatet.</p><p>Resultatet av vårt arbete visar att alkoholpolicyn inte efterföljs till fullo, då 70 % av eleverna uppfattat att policyn brutits en eller flera gånger. Detta trots att rederierna i de intervjuer som genomförts, upplever det som detta. En generell uppfattning bland eleverna visar att flertalet är emot att besättningsmedlemmar dricker sig berusade ombord. De anser dock att det bör vara accepterat med öl eller vin i samband med måltid.</p> / <p>For many years alcohol have been strongly associated with shipping. This got us interested and therefore we chose to find out more about this subject. In our thesis we have chose to focus on how the shipping companies' policy about alcohol is followed onboard.</p><p>To get an understanding we created a questionnaire about the alcohol culture onboard, that was answered by the merchant academy's nautical students. Thereafter we interviewed the three companies that were most represented in the questionnaire to get their opinion about the result.</p><p>The result of our thesis shows that the alcohol policy isn't followed onboard even if the shipping companies have this opinion. It is stated by 70 percent of the students that they once or more got the opinion that the policy was broken. The general opinion among the students is that they are against heavy drinking onboard, but that the crewmembers that aren't on duty should be allowed drinking beer or wine when having dinner.</p>

Graduation date: 1995

Since the Austro-Hungarian and Tsarist eras, men’s intoxication has been deemed ‘masculine’ and women’s sobriety ‘feminine’ in western Ukraine; however, these ideologies are being rewritten to fit the new, post-socialist environment and to underscore a divergence from the Soviet past. While men are judged based on their ability to function after imbibing copious amounts of alcohol, women are explicitly expected to embody two stereotypes: the ‘Berehynia’ (a recently reformulated goddess of family and nation) and the ‘Barbie’ (a more globally-informed image). Digression from the ‘Barbie’ model is used as evidence to render public diagnoses of addiction, while the ‘Berehynia’ model underscores the sentiment that “we are not allowed to be weak.” Women are expected to be stronger than men; indeed, women are widely regarded as the carriers of morality. While men’s addiction is often met with sympathy – and linked to a presumed, inherent inability to cope with social, political and economic upheaval – addicted women are deemed to have consciously abandoned their femininity, their families, and their nation. These ideologies deeply affect the experiences of addicted people. In particular, women’s addiction is severely stigmatized, and they are extremely reluctant to “confess” and seek treatment. Based upon 14 months of ethnographic fieldwork, this thesis explores the gendered conceptualizations of ‘moral’ and ‘immoral’ that are being formulated with respect to drinking and addiction, and how these concepts inform the variety of addiction treatments that are available. In so doing, this analysis illuminates what is at stake for both the stigmatizers and stigmatized, and more specifically, the multiple ways that gender, drinking, and addiction have become implicated in constructions of the Ukrainian nation and state.

The chronic and severe executive functioning (EF) and self regulation deficits experienced by children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) are well documented and EF and self regulation have been identified as core targets for intervention. The goals of this dissertation were to: (i) examine the effects of a self regulation treatment for children with FASD on a range of EF measures (ii) examine neural markers of treatment outcome and determine if functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can differentiate treatment responders from nonresponders; (iii) determine if treatment effects generalize to child compliance and qualitatively examine the treatment process. Twenty-five children with FASD participated. Using a wait-list control design children were assigned to an immediate treatment (TXT; n = 12) or delayed treatment control (DTC; n = 13) condition. All children received an evaluation of EF and fMRI at baseline and 12-week follow-up. Parents also completed questionnaires assessing EF and behavior as well as a feedback questionnaire upon completion of treatment. A subset of parents tracked compliance over the course of their child’s therapy. For the TXT group only, parent questionnaires were readministered at 6 month follow-up. At 12-week follow-up, children in the TXT group displayed significant improvements in inhibitory control and social cognition. Additionally, parents reported improved behavioral and emotional regulation. This improvement, along with a further improvement in parent-rated inhibitory control, was maintained at the 6-month follow-up. Neuroplastic changes were also observed as the TXT group showed increased BOLD response in the right prefrontal cortex (PFC) and left caudate on a task of inhibitory control. When treatment responders were compared to nonresponders a pattern of increased BOLD response was found bilaterally in the PFC and left caudate. Compliance tracking revealed that self regulation therapy generalized to improved child compliance at home. Qualitative analysis indicated that perceived clinician competence, caregiver insight about child’s problems and caregiver perceptions of child’s insight about their problems, were the most commonly endorsed themes by caregivers. Results from this research signify that children with FASD are responsive to psychotherapy and following a brief intervention, showed improvements in self regulatory abilities that generalize to other EF areas and parent-reported behaviors.

Since the Austro-Hungarian and Tsarist eras, men’s intoxication has been deemed ‘masculine’ and women’s sobriety ‘feminine’ in western Ukraine; however, these ideologies are being rewritten to fit the new, post-socialist environment and to underscore a divergence from the Soviet past. While men are judged based on their ability to function after imbibing copious amounts of alcohol, women are explicitly expected to embody two stereotypes: the ‘Berehynia’ (a recently reformulated goddess of family and nation) and the ‘Barbie’ (a more globally-informed image). Digression from the ‘Barbie’ model is used as evidence to render public diagnoses of addiction, while the ‘Berehynia’ model underscores the sentiment that “we are not allowed to be weak.” Women are expected to be stronger than men; indeed, women are widely regarded as the carriers of morality. While men’s addiction is often met with sympathy – and linked to a presumed, inherent inability to cope with social, political and economic upheaval – addicted women are deemed to have consciously abandoned their femininity, their families, and their nation. These ideologies deeply affect the experiences of addicted people. In particular, women’s addiction is severely stigmatized, and they are extremely reluctant to “confess” and seek treatment. Based upon 14 months of ethnographic fieldwork, this thesis explores the gendered conceptualizations of ‘moral’ and ‘immoral’ that are being formulated with respect to drinking and addiction, and how these concepts inform the variety of addiction treatments that are available. In so doing, this analysis illuminates what is at stake for both the stigmatizers and stigmatized, and more specifically, the multiple ways that gender, drinking, and addiction have become implicated in constructions of the Ukrainian nation and state.

Alkohol har sedan länge varit starkt förknippat med sjöfarten. Detta fick oss intresserade och vi valde att fördjupa oss i ämnet. I vårt examensarbete har vi valt att fokusera på huruvida rederiernas alkoholpolicy efterföljs ombord på fartygen. För att få en uppfattning så använde vi oss av metodtriangulering. Vi utförde en enkätundersökning bland skolans nautiska elever angående den rådande alkoholkulturen till sjöss, därefter intervjuades de tre rederier som nämnts mest i enkätundersökningen för att få deras kommentarer på resultatet. Resultatet av vårt arbete visar att alkoholpolicyn inte efterföljs till fullo, då 70 % av eleverna uppfattat att policyn brutits en eller flera gånger. Detta trots att rederierna i de intervjuer som genomförts, upplever det som detta. En generell uppfattning bland eleverna visar att flertalet är emot att besättningsmedlemmar dricker sig berusade ombord. De anser dock att det bör vara accepterat med öl eller vin i samband med måltid. / For many years alcohol have been strongly associated with shipping. This got us interested and therefore we chose to find out more about this subject. In our thesis we have chose to focus on how the shipping companies' policy about alcohol is followed onboard. To get an understanding we created a questionnaire about the alcohol culture onboard, that was answered by the merchant academy's nautical students. Thereafter we interviewed the three companies that were most represented in the questionnaire to get their opinion about the result. The result of our thesis shows that the alcohol policy isn't followed onboard even if the shipping companies have this opinion. It is stated by 70 percent of the students that they once or more got the opinion that the policy was broken. The general opinion among the students is that they are against heavy drinking onboard, but that the crewmembers that aren't on duty should be allowed drinking beer or wine when having dinner.

Background: In scientific literature there are various treatment programs for people with alcohol dependence described, however, are psychosocial factors that promote recovery process described to a limited extent. Purpose: To describe the psychosocial factors that promotes recovery from alcohol dependence. Method: Literature study of ten scientific articles, published between 1999-2011 with both qualitative and quantitative design. Results: According to the literature, the recovery process can be considered to begin when a person with alcohol dependence reached his personal rock bottom. The longer the recovery progresses, the greater are the overall level of performance. Social support is described as an important factor to prevent relapse and reduce the need for professional help. Self-belief and support of self-help groups are described as important to maintaining sobriety. Social support and influence from family members was related to increased ability to analyze and assess their situation during the recovery. Therapeutic alliance and mutual goals are also important factors. Once treatment has been successfully described as a combination of self-motivation and willingness to initiate a radical change in behaviour. Conclusion: Psychosocial factors in the form of supportive relationships appear to promote recovery from alcohol dependence. Other conclusions drawn from this study is limited in scope and compiled by the studies of different design. Further studies need to be implemented in order to draw general conclusions, which can in turn be in support of clinical work.

This dissertation presents a comprehensive literature review of the acculturation process and describes the following aspects: constructs, theoretical models, measurement instruments, limitation in research, and an emphasis on the acculturation process and its proposed relationship with alcohol consumption among Hispanics. Included are also findings from an study conducted on the relationship between the acculturation process and hazardous alcohol use among 180 Hispanic college students in late adolescences. Final results from the study were obtained using a path analysis, a confirmatory approach to test hypothesis. Evaluation indices suggest the path analysis had good model fit, CFI, RMSEA and SRMR (1.00, 0.001, and .02, respectively). In regard to the first hypothesis, data show that behavioral enculturation was a statistically significant (beta = .69, p < .05) predictor of greater alcohol consumption. Further, moderation analyses indicate that behavioral enculturation (beta = .59, p < .05) was a greater risk factor of alcohol use for men than women. Regarding hypothesis two and three, acculturative stress, intragroup marginalization, and depression did not mediate the indirect influence of acculturation and enculturation on alcohol use. However, higher scores of enculturation were associated to greater acculturative stress and higher score of acculturation were related to greater intragroup marginalization. In turn both acculturative stress and intragroup marginalization were statistically significant predictors of depression. In all, the model accounted for 31 percent of the variance in depression and 20 percent in alcohol consumption. In view of these results, interventions should be designed to target segments of the Hispanic populations that are likely to be enculturated. Further, interventions should consider introducing gender socialization differences regarding attitudes toward alcohol use that directly attending to the moderating role of gender. Given that data also indicate that pressure from both the heritage culture and dominant culture may increase the risk of depression, mental health providers should be attune to these effects of the acculturation process to help adolescents negotiate expectations of both cultures. Lastly, interventions for alcohol use and depression may incorporate family effectiveness training, to attend to differential acculturation as a systemic family issue that needs to be addressed at the family interactional level.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 296-319).